Main navigation

5 Steps to develop an idea into a business

Studies show that the number of small businesses in the UK has now reached a staggering 5.2 million, growing by 760,000 since 2010. With the increasing availability of support through campaigns and schemes such as Business is GREAT and Startup Britain, you could say there has never been a better time to start your business venture. But where do you even begin? In this post we explore the journey of a great idea to a promising startup.

1. Capture everything

We all know the importance of being able to capture every little idea on the go. Even a simple notebook is perfect for jotting down your thoughts, but for a more organised approach try apps such as Keep, which provides note, photo, and voice memo options. You can check out a few more suggestions for note-taking apps here.

2. Develop your idea with visual story telling

Over at Curator.co they realise that ‘ideas start with fragments’, and their app allows you to easily organise and present your thoughts – whether it’s through images, other websites, or text. We love the simple grid-based interface, helping you to expand on your idea piece by piece. You can even import content directly from Instagram, Pinterest and Dropbox.

3. Define your business model

Once you’ve curated your ideas, consider these key points: What problem are you solving and/or what are you replacing? Who are you targeting? Who are your potential competitors? What are your goals and how will you achieve them?

You can use these answers to build your business model. Lean Stack has developed Lean Canvas, a template for creating a concise 1-page model that can be completed in under 20 minutes.

4. Share & collaborate

Considering 42% of startups fail due to a lack of market need for their product, feedback during the early stages is essential. Talking to others is a great way to discover new perspectives and collect feedback on your business idea. Enterprise Nation arrange a wide variety of business events and meet-ups across the UK, perfect for building your support network and sharing ideas.

5. Create a minimum viable product

A principle of the ‘Lean Startup‘ method is to create a minimum viable product (MVP) to determine demand early on and discover what works and what doesn’t.

Take your MVP to potential target customers, listen to feedback, and use insights to develop your original model into a successful product or service that fully caters to your customer’s needs.